Venezuelan foreign minister stands in for Chavez

FILE - In this July 23, 2011, file photo, released by Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, center, accompanied by Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, front left, and Vice President Elias Jaua, front right, arrive to the airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela. After nearly a year of cancer treatment that's forced Chavez to step back from the spotlight, Maduro is emerging more than ever as the president's stand-in. (AP Photo/Miraflores Presidential Office, File)
— AP

FILE - In this July 23, 2011, file photo, released by Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, center, accompanied by Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, front left, and Vice President Elias Jaua, front right, arrive to the airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela. After nearly a year of cancer treatment that's forced Chavez to step back from the spotlight, Maduro is emerging more than ever as the president's stand-in. (AP Photo/Miraflores Presidential Office, File)
/ AP

Chavez has kept Venezuelans guessing about his intentions while he has undergone two cancer surgeries, chemotherapy and most recently radiation therapy treatments.

Rumors of a possible political transition have grown in the Venezuelan news media and on the streets after Chavez last month began naming close allies to a new Council of State, which under the constitution advises the president and is led by the vice president.

Maduro has been frequently at Chavez's side in Cuba and joined the president's relatives during informal chats. Maduro was even shown on television last month playing bocce ball in Cuba with Chavez and the president's elder brother, Adan.

What remains unclear is whether the foreign minister would continue Chavez's radical approach or moderate the government line if he were called upon to replace Chavez, Villegas said.

"It would have to be seen whether Maduro with Chavez is the same as Maduro without Chavez," he said.